RCN Christmas lights show taping was great fun

TOWN SQUARE

December 12, 2011|Bill White

We had an awesome night taping this year's 12th annual "Christmas Lights with Bill White and Wally Ely 2011" last Thursday.

We began in Roseto at the home of Dom and Jean DeFranco, 317 Falcon Ave. One reason I wanted their house on our list this year is that it hasn't been appearing on any of my annual Christmas Light Tours, which is unfortunate, because the outside display is terrific and the inside of the house is even better.

The problem for me has been that it's so far from anything else on my tour. I don't include routes to a single home when it's so far from the other routes, and I've been woefully short of Slate Belt locations.

So the RCN program was perfect. Our videographers not only were able to shoot the lights outside, but they got inside to document some of the 24 — yes, really — Christmas trees, all featuring different themes. The whole house is like a Christmas village. Just walking through the place puts me right in the spirit, and the DeFrancos' enthusiasm is a big part of that.

In case you want to see it, take 512 north through Wind Gap, continue on 512 through Pen Argyl, then turn left onto Bangor Junction Road (next left after Ace Hardware). Immediately bear right onto Slate Belt Boulevard. When you come to a five-point stop, take a very sharp left onto Front Street. Turn first right onto Decatur Street, then make right at next stop sign onto Falcone.

The rest of our tour took us to 422 Second St., West Easton; 1326 Wayne St., Palmer; 2303 Woodland Drive, Salisbury; and finishing with the Grand Dame of Lehigh Valley Christmas displays, 1135 Sunset View in Hanover Township. I'm already compiling my list for next year.

I'm always happy to drive around looking at Christmas lights, but what makes these shows so much fun for me is the opportunity to meet the decorators whose expense, hard work, creativity and even broken bones make all this possible. I always walk away even more inspired by their creations and impressed with their graciousness. Some of them insisted on feeding us, which of course met great resistance from me. In tribute, I'll be including one Roseto specialty as the name of a tour route.

A special note of thanks is due Wally Ely, who came up with this idea all those years ago and helps turn all that raw footage into a real show. He was back on camera with me this year, and we had a lot of fun, as always. We had two stellar videographers this year — Mike Kingsley and Alyssa Sheckler — which made it much easier for us to stay on schedule.

The new shows will air at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 23, 6:30 and 11 Dec. 24, 6:30 Dec. 27, 9 p.m. Dec. 29 and 6:30 and 11 p.m. Dec. 31. If you want to watch me age horribly before your eyes — I'm reminded of one of the climactic scenes in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," where the bad guy swigs water from the wrong cup and is transformed from vigorous man to exploding skeleton — you can see the entire block of half-hour shows on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. We'll begin with the 2000 show at 1 p.m. and run straight through to the newest one.

RCN viewers also can dial up any show they want to see with Video on Demand. They're under Holiday Programming.

• Today is last call for your nominations of great displays you've seen. My judges and I will be making a final run tonight, and although late-arriving nominations always are in peril if they're too far off the beaten track, I'll try to squeeze them in. The final package will run Dec. 17.

I'm accepting contributions of at least $25 to Second Harvest Food Bank until Thursday, when the winners of guided tours will be chosen. If you don't have time to get a check to me but want to make a big pledge to guarantee your trip, shoot me an email or give me a call. For that matter, your checks will be very much appreciated even if you aren't interested in a trip, so keep them coming through December.

Two more things. If you're out touring on a rainy night, remember that bad weather tends to wreak havoc with Christmas lights, so don't be surprised if some of the houses on the list don't look tour-worthy.

Finally, a note to decorators and tourers. I've always considered 10 p.m. to be the witching hour for seeing the lights, since many people turn them off around then. But if you do have a large display, I encourage you to keep generous and regular hours — at least 5:30-10 — since people may be driving considerable distances to see you.